What is the current law on surrogacy?
The Surrogacy Arrangements Act was put in force in 1985, and ever since then, there has not been significant development within this area of law. This area of law requires reform as surrogacy has become more common in the UK over the last 40 years. Unfortunately, the law governing surrogacy has not kept up with the social changes.
Although surrogacy is legal in the UK, there are various rules and restrictions. Here’s what the current UK surrogacy law entails:
- Even if the intended parents and the surrogate enter into the surrogacy agreement, it can not be enforced by law
- The surrogate and her partner are the child’s legal parents at birth
- The court process for transferring parenthood takes up a year
- The post-birth criteria for transferring parenthood are unnecessarily restrictive and exclude some families
- Children born through international surrogacy will be considered their parent’s legal children in the country of birth
- It is a criminal offence to advertise any services related to surrogacy
- The intended parents are only allowed to pay children their ‘reasonable expense’
Surrogacy Agreements
The intended parents and surrogates can record how the arrangements will work, however, such contracts are unenforceable in the UK. Both parties have to rely on each other to honour the agreement.
There is a lot of uncertainty about what will happen if the surrogate wants to keep the baby or if the parents do not assume responsibility at birth. Even though surrogacy contracts are not legally binding, it is better to put things in writing for clarity.
Parental Order
Since the surrogate and her spouse are legal parents at birth, the intended parents have to apply for the parental order to reassign parenthood and re-issue their child’s birth certificate. It is important to check the post-birth criteria for making a parental order before continuing with the surrogacy arrangements.
Payment For Surrogacy UK
Although it may appear that the UK law restricts the intended parents to not paying the surrogate more than their reasonable expenses, the court can allow compensation payment.
The Need for UK Surrogacy Law Reforms
As a result of multiple campaigns, the government is in the process of reviewing legislation and bringing some changes. There are several issues in the surrogacy law that requires reform
- A legal mechanism that allows the intended parents to become the child’s legal parents from birth
- Written surrogacy contract and other legal protection before conception
- Immediate recognition of the status of the child born overseas through international surrogacy
- Ease of advertising restrictions
- Allowing honest and transparent financial arrangements with no clear distinction between the compensation and reasonable expense
Several areas of the law require reform to minimize the vagueness of the current law and the risk of exploitation. The law regulating surrogacy in the UK has remained largely unchanged for over 40 years. The current legislation is unnecessarily restrictive and one of the major issues with it is the transference of parenthood.
Disclaimer:
The information in this blog is for general information purposes only and does not purport to be comprehensive or to provide legal advice. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the information and law is current as of the date of publication it should be stressed that, due to the passage of time, this does not necessarily reflect the present legal position. Connaught Law and authors accept no responsibility for loss that may arise from accessing or reliance on information contained in this blog. For formal advice on the current law please don’t hesitate to contact Connaught Law. Legal advice is only provided pursuant to a written agreement, identified as such, and signed by the client and by or on behalf of Connaught Law.
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